Calibrations
by CTMGame
Summary: A military exercise goes bad when the Thanix Cannon aboard the SSV Ashley Williams, Kaidan's ship, explodes, killing four. In Berlin on Earth, all Normandy-class frigates undergo maintenance to find the error. In Berlin, John Shepard and Kaidan come across Jane "Femshep" Schäfer, the third Human Spectre who is often called "the female Shepard" and her crew...
1. Something done right

**SSV Ashley Williams, Space near Palaven, Trebia, ****2188.8.8, 14:31**

Kaidan stepped up to the command console, watching the fleet movements. Up to now, the exercise Able Archer '88 had gone along smoothly. As the first joint exercise of the truly "Galactic" Federation, there had been more preparations than usual. Representatives from the Council Races were aboard some ships and Hackett had, at the briefing beforehand, stressed how important it was that the exercise went as planned.

Now was almost the end of the last day of the exercise and Kaidan had long awaited his leave after it. A trip to the wilderness of Manitoba, alone with Jack for two weeks, was a welcome change of pace from the stresses as Commanding Officer of a Frigate.

Now, the conclusion of the exercise would have each ship fire a few shots each at a decommissioned ship that served as a target to test the weapon systems. On the view screens, Kaidan could see the dreadnoughts manoeuvring to fire at the target. The mighty Kilimanjaro-classes had lined up amongst the smaller ships they dwarfed and fired their Mass Accelerator rounds at the target ship.

As the larger ships, the dreadnoughts and cruisers, had finished their salvo, the smaller ships, the frigates and corvettes opened up and fired as well. Now, Kaidan could show off the capability of the 3rd generation Thanix-Cannons that had been installed on the GSV Normandy SR-3, the SSV Leipzig SR-2, both of which did not take part in the exercise, and his ship, the SSV Ashley Williams.

Over his shoulder, he looked at Jack, who had been appointed his security officer on recommendation of Rear-Admiral Kahlee Sanders and was filling in for his XO, who was busy with the Thanix, and watched her as she prepared the cannon to fire. It was wonderful to have her on board, but it had been difficult for her to work with Miranda, at least initially. While Jack was still busy giving orders to the Tactical Station, he ordered his helmsman to manoeuvre the ship into position.

"The gun's ready, Sonny Boy.", Jack reported in. "Are we gonna use it now or what?"

Kaidan smiled: "Yes, we will." He pushed a button on his console: "Fire."

The Thanix discharged with a sound much too loud, and Kaidan immediately knew something had gone very, very wrong. An explosion shook the whole ship and the master alarm VI activated Red Alert.

"What happened?", he called out to Jack as several bridge officers were busy on their consoles.

Jack hit the top of her console in rage: "Damm! A fucking hull breach on deck four. Containment fields are active." She gasped with relief: "Breach stopped."

An ensign ran up from behind: "Sir! The security VI reports temperatures in excess of 1500 Kelvins down there! It has to be a plasma vent to reach that kind of heat."

Kaidan turned around in shock: "What?" A plasma vent. Somewhere, something extremely important had failed. A vent into an isolated cabin could prove fatal. "I'll go down there. Jack, take up the Conn. Send a distress call and…", he paused for a moment, realising what he was about to say: "order MedBay to prepare for casualties."

Jack was too shocked to call Kaidan by his nickname or even swear: "Yes, Sir."

Kaidan ran off the bridge, into the tactical stand where the elevator waited. He turned around to the ensign that had followed him: "Ensign! Get some people suited up in RI-gear. We don't know if the compartment is safe."

**SSV Ashley Williams****, Mass Hall**

The elevator ride was quick and Kaidan now stood in the Mass Hall, at the other end of which the walkway of the maintenance gangway of the Thanix cannon was located. Crewmembers in RIGs were carrying fire extinguishers and prepared to open the door.

"Plasma leak isolated through remote control.", Jack reported in over the Comm. "Should be safe now.", she gave the all clear.

Kaidan desperately wanted to help too, but realised the futility of going with a deck uniform made out of regular fibres where Kevlar-Ceramic RIG's barely were enough. At Jack's sign, the three people in RIG's opened the door and were faced by a stream of scorching air. What they saw inside shocked both them and Kaidan, who was watching from across the Mass Hall.

Inside the compartment, people were shouting for help, with terrific burns on their bodies and faces. Some of them didn't move; the explosion or the plasma vent that followed – it was impossible to tell which of the two catastrophes – had either slammed them against a wall or filled their lungs with toxic, superheated ferroxide gases. The hole that had briefly existed into outer space had been shut with a force field by now, undoubtly work of the automated security VI.

The two ship doctors and several nurses rushed in with emergency stretchers, carrying the wounded away. But for some, help was too late; they were dead on arrival.

Kaidan spotted his XO, Commander Gallia Caesarian, as she was carried past him. The normally so composed Turian gasped, obviously in pain: "Major Alenko, how did this happen?"

"I don't know.", Kaidan had to admit. And the truth was, he didn't. The Thanix cannon had been fired successfully several times already in the past; only the first time this exercise. "But I will find out.", he called out after his tactical officer. Fortunately, she was one of the less injured. She would survive.

**SSV Ashley Williams****, Mass Hall, 14:78**

The situation had stabilised slightly now. The wounded were out of immediate danger, but some hadn't made it. Kaidan saluted in front of the four coffins that were laid out in front of him. Placed on each were the dog tags of the deceased, and the emblem of the Federation, their dispatching nation's logo highlighted in gold. Twice, it was the Systems Alliance, once the Quarian Fleet and once the Turian Hierarchy.

Four people had died. Kaidan would have to write a lot of e-mails. He'd have to look up details, whether to write to mothers, fathers, widows, or – worst of all – orphans. He'd have to file an accident report, possibly testify before an investigative committee. So many things went through his head, all of which were related to the accident. What had happened, how had it happened, could it happen again, would it?

Jack walked up to him, interrupting his thoughts: "Tough luck, eh?"

"Yes.", Kaidan responded. He wanted to cry out, to shout at the heavens in unrelenting rage, but it wouldn't matter anyway. Four of his crew had died. People die in wars, that had been a truth that he had had to accept a long time ago. But people shouldn't die on an exercise.

Suddenly, Miranda stepped up, holding a data pad. "I think I know what happened."

"What?", Kaidan was surprised. "So quickly?"

"Yes.", Miranda replied. "Follow me."

**SSV Ashley Williams, Thanix Corridor**

"You are familiar with the design of the Thanix cannon, I suppose?", Miranda asked Kaidan. A rhetorical question, knowing the Major's background as a technical specialist.

"Of course.", Kaidan answered, and, as if he had to prove it added: "A beam of Iron-Nickel plasma is created inside a vortex coil and then accelerated along the barrel, reaching considerable fractions of the speed of light."

"Half, to be exact.", Miranda walked up to the 40-centimetre hole that had been torn into the side of the barrel. "Here, you see what happens when the cannon shoots at itself." With her hand, she traced a line for the slanted hole to the hole in the hull, at the other side of the walkway. "We're lucky the breach happened at the side."

"Why that?"

"Had it been on the top, the rest of Decks three and two would have looked like this too. MedBay, Bridge, Tactical Stand… all destroyed."

"But how did that even happen in the first place? Aren't the coils supposed to contain the beam?"

"Yes, they are. In 60 centimetre intervals, a pair of coils is placed. Both coils have to be synchronised with each other, to a Delta-B of below 10 to the negative 5 Tesla."

"And, weren't they?"

"No, they weren't. The logs show that the automated adjustment system failed, creating a faulty calibration."

"But we fired this cannon so many times already. Why did it fail today?"

"Luck, Kaidan. Pure and simple luck.", Miranda replied. "It could have failed sooner, but we were lucky. Four sigma precision can sometimes last a long time."

"So, someone screwed up during the calibration process."

"Yes, exactly. The calibrating went wrong. Who last calibrated this barrel?"

"The Turian maintenance teams did.", Kaidan realised, "so they introduced the fault."

Miranda walked up to the door outside: "Yes, but the error should have been caught in the automated calibration procedures. I don't know why it wasn't."

"Well, now I have a report to Hackett to file.", Kaidan sighed as he left the room together with Miranda.

**Armstrong Room, Alliance Fleet HQ, Vancouver, ****2188.8.9, 10:04**

Von Essling hit the table with his fist, and talked angrily as he reacted to the news that the 3rd-generation Thanix Cannons, the most advanced weapons system the Alliance had in store, had a critical fault: "Nein, Nein, Nein. Zis is a catastrophe." Calming down quickly, he added: "Ve immediately hev to find ze error and fix it, before more lives are lost."

"What do you propose, Gunther?", Hackett asked.

"I suggest zat ve…", Von Essling had to think for a moment. "Ve hev to recall every single ship with a Thanix Mk. 3."

"That would be three. GSV Normandy, SSV Leipzig and SSV Ashley Williams.", Kaidan informed the Admiral.

"Very Vell. Zese fit into a single spaceport. Ze Thanix was developed in our R&D facility in Berlin, here on Earth.", Von Essling went on. "Ze three ships can be transferred zer. Also, ve need ze specialists zat developed ze components."

"Ah yes. I think Conrad Verner led the team that developed the beam-chamber, Gordon Freeman constructed the high-energy tokamak conduit and…", Kaidan had to look the next name up on his DataPad. The answer surprised him: "Samantha Traynor developed the synchronisation procedures."

"One of zese three components has a critical flaw.", Von Essling concluded. "Vell, ve shall see in Berlin. I vill notify our SpacePort zere.", he turned to Hackett, "Stefan, can you notify Shepard? I vill coordinate ze details later, but ve vill transfer all zree frigates zer tomorrow."

Kaidan picked up his hat and secretly regretted the impending loss of his vacation time. Well, he could always postpone his vacation. Jack would be angry of course, but he knew of a way to calm her down again. A fun way, but this wasn't important now anyway. "Goodbye Admiral!", he saluted as Von Essling left the room.

So, it was decided. Kaidan and Shepard would transfer their ships to Berlin, to find the fault with the Thanix cannons and return the most effective weapon the Alliance Fleet had at its disposal to safe working condition.

Also, he couldn't wait to meet Major Schaefer, from what he had heard, her accomplishments rivalled Shepard's, some even called her "female Shepard", or short: "Femshep".


	2. Off to Berlin

**Aria's lounge, Purgatory, Omega, 2188.8.9, 13:72**

James was exhausted. His mission, to check on the three Matriarchs under Aria's house arrest, had proven to be a lot more fun than he had anticipated. All three of the prisoners had at one point been in a relationship with Aria, so their imprisonment was more like a neverending honeymoon - as a foursome.

"What's wrong, Toyboy?", Aria looked up. James had paused to check his comm that had signalled the arrival of an important message. Thr ringtone meant one thing - it was from Shepard.

"I've gotta go, Lola.", James put his trousers back on.

Tevos, Lidanya and Irissa made a sound that almost made James want to stay. But duty had called; and he would always come back here next month, in time for the next "check-up".

"Well, I hope we see you next month then."

"Well, an order is an order, and for me it's checking up on you beauties. Once a month." James chuckled as he left the room. Outside, he high-fived himself. Four Asari at once - a notable deed, even for a notorious womanizer like him. Liara's plan had worked, he had successfully broken the one rule of Omega - again - and gotten into not only Aria T'Loak's inner sanctum, but also her pants. The Shadow Broker Network would certainly find the information he could eventually bring back valuable.

Well, Guard duties on the Normandy during emergency maintenance wasn't bad either. Or so he told himself. The shuttle that was supposed to take him back to earth landed in the docking bay. While the decision to have Joker and EDI as pilots didn't surprise him, Garrus face appearing inside the passenger bay was certainly quite an unexpected sight.

"All four?", Garrus asked him.

James smiled: "Si."

The Turian turned around to Joker: "I won. 100 credits please."

Joker grumbled "Ok, fine." and pushed a few buttons on his CommPad. "There you go. Now, let's get to earth before I gamble more money away."

**Kelly's and Samantha's Apartment, Vancouver, Earth, 14:24**

Kelly lied down on the couch, waiting for Samantha to come back. The day was almost over, yesterday had marked the last day of their vacation in England and today was the last day of their leave. Samantha had left, wanted to get something to surprise Kelly with. With her arms around a pillow, she looked around the living room. It was a pity that she didn't have Samantha there, yet.

Inside a glass cupboard, the metal sculpture of a stylised spinning wheel sat just beside a tea kettle with the Union Jack on it. This ensemble was accompanied by a small bust of Alan Turing and a replica of a Sonic Screwdriver. The chessboard that she had gifted Samantha for their six-month anniversary sat close beside.

On the electronic picture frame that sat on a table in the corner of the room, Kelly watched the changing pictures. Sam and Her in Agra, India, visiting the Taj Mahal. Sam and Her in Orange County, California, visiting Mr. and Mrs. Chambers, Sam and Her on Thessia, Sam and Her in London, visiting Mr. And Mrs. Traynor.

Going over these old memories proved to be a good way to spend one's time, and Kelly sat upright and took the picture frame into her hand. As she looked over all her other pictures with Samantha, a feeling of loneliness made its way into her heart. Where was Samantha, why was she taking so long? Had something happened to her?

But these fears proved to be unfounded and the loneliness receded as Kelly heard the sound of an unlocking door. Samantha walked in, calling out to her girlfriend from around the corner: "Kelly, where are you? I've brought you something special."

Kelly jumped up from the couch and gave Samantha a kiss that lasted a few seconds, then smiled as she smelled the pleasant scent of rosewood and violets that her girlfriend carried with her. Even after almost one year, she couldn't get enough: "Now, what did you bring me?"

"A special soap, imported from India. It's scented with jasmin and other flowers. And the best part...", Samantha leaned close to Kelly, whispering in her ear: "apparently it's an aphrodisiac."

Kelly smelled the intensive, flowery scent, even through the packaging of silk paper: "And... What are we going to do now, Sam?"

"Whatever you like...", Samantha responded. While looking into Kelly's eyes, she put her bag down on the kitchen counter behind her and wrapped her arms around her girlfriends neck. Kelly's red hairs were a little shorter than hers, but Samantha liked them so much more than her own and she too a strand between her thumb and finger. As their faces came closer to each other, they closed their eyes, wanting to savour every last bit of this moment.

Their kiss was rudely interrupted by Samantha's comm, prompting Kelly to moan: "Sam, didn't you turn it off?"

Samantha stared at the message, hardly believing what she saw. "Oh bloody hell. It's orders, from Shepard."

"What do they say?"

"We've got to be back on the ship tomorrow, at 0460 hours in the morning. The _Normandy_ is going into emergency maintenance in Berlin, in the EU."

"Well, that is something for tomorrow." Kelly still wanted to continue on where they had left off. They would have to get up early tomorrow, but the evening was still long. "So, Soap? How about a relaxing bath."

Samantha looked back into Kelly's eyes and came closer again: "A bath. Sure." While all ships had showers that were even quite comfortable for the officers – the two could even share their own bathroom – but a bath à deux was still one of the best ways to relax. And they'd need it, the next few days promised to be stressful.

_**Normandy SR-3**_**, Vancouver Spaceport, 2188.8.9, 04:57**

Garrus couldn't keep back a yawn as he entered the almost empty bridge of the _Normandy_. As XO, he had to be there early, and took this duty, like everything, as a Turian, seriously. At the far end of the bridge, at the flight deck, EDI and Joker were already sitting.

Joker was holding onto a cup of coffee as if his life depended on it and the rings in his eyes were still clearly visible. EDI however, true to her android nature, was not plagued with such issues. Sleeping was mainly a social activity for her, spending the bed in the same night as Joker and letting the garbage collection algorithms swoop through to try and give at least some objective value to sleep.

Garrus had to think of Tali, who could not have been a lot more awake than him. At least she could have a nap down in engineering before Donnelly and Daniels arrived in 40 minutes.

By now, Joker had let go of his cup of coffee, if only to have a look at the data pad with the flight plan. Lift-Off was scheduled for 0600 hours, so they still had about 140 minutes left. Barely enough time for all pre-flight checks. Still, he wondered why they had to leave so early. As he noticed Garrus behind him he asked: "Garrus, did you write this flight plan?"

"No, I didn't. What made you think so?"

"Well, it looks like it had a Turian's touch. You know, lift-off at 0600 hours. Whole pre-flight in two hours, especially after the month of downtime."

"No, that plan is straight from Admiral Von Essling."

Joker remembered his run-in with him the day before Shepard married. He had seemed quite – Turian – for a lack of a better word, even though he clearly was human: "Oh right. Well, I guess there's a reason the Turian embassy's in Berlin after all."

"Yes, that's probably it.", Garrus quipped just he heard the door to the bridge open. He looked around: "Well, here come the yeowomen." The two had arrived together, along with the bridge crew that dispersed to their stations.

Kelly had sat down at her console, looking over the latest reports. Samantha had also sat down and set a cup of tea on top of her console, but wasn't looking over reports. Her console was filled with code, code that Garrus had already seen: "Traynor, you're looking at the synchronisation procedures for the Thanix cannon?"

She answered without turning around: "Yes. I hope it isn't the reason that accident on the _Ashley Williams_ happened."

"It's not going to be your fault, Traynor. This kind of thing has happened before."

Now, she did turn around: "What? What has already happened?"

"Rail coils failing. In the last case, it was a regular Mass Accelerator, but the technology is similar."

Samantha was intrigued: "When?"

"Oh, that's…", Garrus had to think. "Ten years ago, when I still served as an enlisted man in the Hierarchy. Rail Coils were badly calibrated and the gun fired at itself. Ever since, I calibrate the guns myself. And now, a machine does my old job. Well, someone's still got to calibrate that machine."

"Oh, so…", Samantha responded, but was interrupted by a sound on her console. The parsing VI had validated the code. Samantha let out a sigh of relief and let herself fall back into her seat: "My code is safe. The issue is hardware side." Reassured, she took a sip of her tea.

Garrus gave Samantha a slap on the shoulder: "See, what did I tell you?"

"Well, I can start the full boot-up of the _Normandy_ now." She called EDI over the intercom: "Ready, EDI?"

"I am ready, Samantha."

"Good. Initiating boot-up script now."

"All systems report nominal. Engineering reports green light."

Shepard entered the bridge and the ensigns working on the nav-consoles saluted: "Good Morning, General-Commander Sir!"

"At ease, ensigns. It's too damn early for this.", Shepard responded. His face betrayed that his night had not been any longer than Joker's. After all, his honeymoon had just ended yesterday. "Garrus.", he greeted his XO and Tactical Officer.

"Shepard.", the Turian answered.

"How long to lift off?"

"According to the flight plan, 100 minutes."

"How far are we with Pre-Flight?"

Garrus had a look at his console, many of the departments already having transmitted their green-light for launch.

"We're just missing full-green from Engineering. They've got to start up their reactor and everything. Once those're through, we go to the final pre-flight checks."

"Good."

Liara entered the bridge, giving Shepard a kiss on the cheek and handed him a coffee. "So early?", she asked with her arms wrapped around his chest from behind.

"Yes.", he leaned back and kissed her.

The XO's console showed a notification in green and Tali's voice became audible on the bridge: "Engineering is ready, Garrus. We've still got some time, so if you want to have a look at my suit…"

Garrus interrupted her: "Tali, you're on PA." He pushed a button on his Omni-tool, directing the audio to his earpiece. "Talk now." As he listed to her, he had to first nod, then smile. "I'm sorry, but I can't now. As much as I want to."

Shepard sat down on his seat and took another sip of his coffee. As the hot beverage ran down his throat, he had to smile. His ship was ready, even if only for maintenance. And quickly, it was 05.90 hours, and the final pre-flight started

Tali called over the Intercom: "Engineering reports all clear for departure. Switching compartment to green light."

"Operations reports all clear for departure." EDI reported. "Switching to global green light."

"Flight reports all clear for lift-off.", Joker reported. He hailed ground control: "AVC flight control, this is _Normandy_, requesting permission to depart."

"This is AVC flight control. Request for lift-off acknowledged. General-Commander Shepard, please verify."

Shepard stood up: "This is General-Commander Shepard speaking. We are cleared to depart."

"Permission to depart confirmed.", AVC reported back. "Proceed to 500 on full-RCS, then proceed to 8k full-vertical. Further flight path according to transmitted coordinates and vectors."

"We confirm. Let's go.", Joker flipped the switch that separated the ship from the ground and activated RCS and dampening. The – now lighter – _Normandy_ slowly lifted, clearing the Spaceport and ascending further into the air.

As they reached 500 metres of altitude, Joker activated the main engine. On push of a button, the side nacelles turned 90 degrees, pointing at the ground. As they too activated, the _Normandy_ ascending higher and higher. Out of the window, Joker watched Vancouver, the whole of British Columbia even, get smaller and smaller as the altitude of the frigate grew. Eventually, the _Normandy_ transitioned to regular flight. Their route led over North Canada and Greenland.

Shepard and Liara watched in awe as the _Normandy_, by now in the upper atmosphere, at around 60,000 metres up, flew over the regenerated ice of Greenland. Up to the middle of the 22nd century, Greenland had not had any ice in the summers, the result of a century of global warming. This was an especially novel sight to Liara, as Thessia did not have permanent ice caps.

Eventually, the _Normandy_ descended again, over Europe. The main ground control for Europe hailed the ship "This is Oberpfaffenhofen ground control, calling _Normandy_. Please proceed on current course and stand by for further guidance. Please verify destination of Berlin Spaceport, Alliance Yard."

Joker pushed a key on his console, activating the guidance system. "Destination Alliance Yard verified.", he responded.

"Alright, proceed. Coordinates and vectors are transmitted."

"We've got your coords and vectors."

"Affirmative. Maintain course."

Joker looked back at Shepard, who was standing right behind him: "Well Shepard, looks like we made it."

EDI had something to say too: "Jeff, a voyage without any incidents is to be expected. We are not inside a war zone."

"EDI, don't tempt fate again. You know what happened last time."

"Jeff, fate is an abstract concept. It cannot feel and therefore not be tempted."

Annoyed by his girlfriend, he moaned: "EDI, how many times do I need to tell you that…"

"Relax Jeff. That was a joke."

"Oh, good. I was worried there. Well we better prepare the descent now."

Shepard got back to his seat as the _Normandy_ slowly approached Berlin. Looking onto a view screen to the outside, he could see the entire city as the _Normandy_ circled in. In the distance, even Palais Sanssouci was visible, where now the Turian embassy on Earth was located.

Eventually, the ship had approached close enough and decelerated to proceed with the landing inside the Alliance Yard. Joker let go of the controls and let EDI do the touchdown. Very slowly, the _Normandy_ approached the docking clamps.

A loud sound, along with a jolt went through the _Normandy_. EDI immediately excused herself: "Apologies. I have, apparently, missed the clamps by 0.2 metres. Fortunately, no damage was dealt to the ship. Readjusting approach." This time, the approach fit and the clamps grasped into the landing gear.

"Docked.", Joker dryly commented, but as Shepard got ready to leave the _Normandy_, the pilot turned to EDI: "How the heck did that happen? You're an AI with over two-hundred points of telemetry available."

"I'm sorry, Jeff. I tried to avoid all VI scripts and do the approach by, as you humans would say, 'eyeballing it'."

"Well, we got docked. Eventually. ", Joker quipped. He could never stay mad, or even slightly angry at EDI for long.

She got out of her seat: "As we expect Admiral Von Essling shortly, I will go out."

Joker also got up: "I'm coming with you, EDI." He looked at the clock on the wall. "After all, it's just 07.10 hours in the morning." It was really still early, but they had departed Vancouver one hour ago.

**Alliance Yard, Berlin Spaceport, 0****7:13**

Shepard got out of the _Normandy_ and greeted Kaidan, who had waited at the dock. "Got here yesterday, I hope?"

"Yes, Shepard, we did. I just got up actually."

"Oh great. I just took the _Normandy_ here. With pre-flights, I got up at 0400 hours in the morning. Von Essling has got to be crazy."

"No, he's not crazy, he's secretly a Turian."

"He's from Berlin, isn't he.", Shepard asked, but he already knew the answer.

Kaidan smiled: "Yes."

"So that's why.", Shepard remarked.

Garrus walked over the gangway and looked around. The Spaceport was large, and the Alliance Yard portion wasn't even a third. As he stepped onto the dock, he too greeted Kaidan. "Good to see you here. So, how's running a spaceship?"

"Can't complain.", the Major commented. "Apart from the accident, that is."

"Ah well. I couldn't do that. Just like tactical way too much."

"Yes, you do. I remember that. Oh, the old times…"

Garrus looked at the _Ashley Williams_ that was docked at the dock opposite the _Normandy_'s leaving one space open – for another frigate – leaving Garrus to wonder: "Where's the _Leipzig_? Shouldn't it be here already?"

"They are supposed to arrive at 07.20 hours.", Kaidan answered. "Still some time."

And indeed, as the two watched the sky, the _Leipzig _made its approach.

Shepard checked his watch: "Right on time." With to only seconds to go, the ship docked into position. At exactly 07.20, the door opened and out stepped Major Schäfer.

She was tall, almost as tall as Shepard, and wore a Major's deck uniform, with her N7 badge clearly visible. She had red hair that she wore to neck-length, dark green eyes with a blazing, wild look in them and freckles on her face. But her looks were deceptive, a soldier hardened from the Terran Resistance in the Reaper War as well as countless clashes along the Skyllian Verge, and the second-most decorated N7 alive was standing in front of them.

As she descended down the walkway, she saluted to Shepard. Only a slight German accent was audible: "General-Commander."

Shepard saluted too: "Major, you can call me Shepard. No title. Everybody does."

Schäfer smiled: "In that case, call me Femshep."


	3. Meet Ze Femshep

**Alliance Yard, Berlin Spaceport, 0****7:21**

"Well, Femshep then. I've heard a lot about you.", Kaidan greeted her.

"Major Alenko. So have I.", Schäfer replied. "Did you have a nice journey?"

"No. I had to write four e-mails. To two wives, one husband and one mother." The memory made Kaidan want to rage at the heavens again.

"Your casualties from the accident?"

"Yes.", he replied.

Inside the airlock of the _Leipzig_, Von Essling appeared: "Zat's vier too many."

"How do we start?", Kaidan asked. "I promised the bereaved I'd find out what killed them."

"I'd say we meet on the _Normandy's_ comm-room at 8.00 hours.", Schäfer suggested. "Get all the experts around one table. You know, efficient problem solving, Ya?."

"08.00 hours sounds good." Shepard replied. He still hadn't had breakfast. "How about you join us for breakfast beforehand?"

Schäfer smiled: "Sure. I can't wait to taste some Canadian breakfast."

"Ahh, I can't wait for ze pancakes and ze bacon, Ya?", Von Essling commented.

"I will notify Crewman Jeune immediately.", EDI reported in over the intercom.

"Well then.", Schäfer clapped into her hands. "I'll just fetch Dr. Freeman and Dr. Vahlen." She gave her earpiece a tap: "Lieutenant Commander Dr. Freeman and Lieutenant Dr. Vahlen, report to main airlock of _Normandy._"

"Your systems engineers?", Kaidan asked.

"Yes. The two also worked on the Thanix."

"I'll get Dr. Verner.", Kaidan added: "Lieutenant Commander Verner, report to _Normandy._" Their old friend Conrad Verner had joined the Alliance after his work on the Crucible. While the position of Chief Engineer on the Normandy was already taken by Tali, a point that Garrus would not let to be rediscussed, the same position on the _Ashley Williams _had still been free.

"I'll call Dr. Traynor.", Shepard replied. "Admiral Von Essling, Major Schäfer, I officially invite you aboard the _Normandy_."

**GSV Normandy SR-3, ****Bridge, ****Berlin Spaceport, 0****7:36**

Samantha sat at her console, reading over the System charts again and again. She wanted to find the glitch, the error that killed four people. Resigned, she sighed. This wasn't a software problem. The hardware was what had failed. She took another sip of tea, and just as she set it down again, the door to the bridge opened. First, Shepard walked through, followed by Kaidan and Von Essling. The three walked around the bridge, then left again.

Behind them, walked another person. A woman, carrying a data pad. She had blue eyes and chestnut hair and a face that Samantha knew all too well.

Her name was Emily Vahlen. Samantha remembered the spring and summer she had spent with her. At first, she had only been an exchange student from Freiburg on Earth, coming out all the way to Horizon. But then, she had become Samantha's girlfriend. Her first.

When she had to return to Earth after her high-school graduation, Samantha had followed her and spent the summer in Freiburg with her. But when it had been time to go to University, Samantha's scholarship led her to Oxford, while Emily's led to Berlin. After a heartbreakingly tearful last week, the two had said goodbye for the last time. They hadn't met since. Until now.

"Sammy!", Emily called out to her.

"Emily!", Samantha called back. She ran up and flung her arms around her former girlfriends' neck. Feeling her body so close reminded of the old times. Eventually, she took a step back again and looked at Emily's uniform. "You've made Lieutenant, impressive."

"Well, so have you.", Emily answered. Her German accent was only slightly noticeable, certainly less than the heavy accent she had at their last meeting.

From behind, a man in deck uniform approached. Emily turned around and gave him a kiss: "Gordon. Schön, dass du auch hier bist."

"Well, I wanted to have a look at the _Normandy_. The class is one of the best designs I've ever seen_. _And the class leader gets all the good prototype tech."

Upon seeing Samantha's slightly perplexed face, Emily saw the need to introduce the visitor: "Sam, this is Gordon, my husband."

Only now, Samantha noticed the uniform he was wearing, a Lieutenant Commander. She saluted.

"Oh, relax. No need to go all formal. We're all engineers here. Call me Gordon." He held out his hand: "You must be Samantha, Emily told me about you."

Samantha shook his hand: "Yes, I was her host in a student exchange, eleven years ago."

Emily was hungry. Today, she had already had to get the _Leipzig's_ systems online to transfer the ship to Berlin, all before breakfast: "How about we go to the comm room now, I'm hungry."

"Oh, go ahead, I'll just have a look at Engineering first.", Gordon answered. He gave Emily another kiss, then left for the lower decks.

After he left, Samantha had to chuckle: "So, you were serious with you 'playing for both teams' after all."

"Yes. He was the alliance liaison in the CS department at TU Berlin. The day I graduated, he asked me out. We married after the war."

"Hey, I'm glad you're happy.", Samantha said. "I've also found someone."

Emily asked "Who?", but was interrupted as Kelly came through the door.

Samantha promptly introduced her: "Emily, this is Kelly, my girlfriend."

Kelly greeted the visitor too: "Yes, Samantha told me about you."

"Nice to meet you." Emily had a quick look at her uniform. "So, you're a Lieutenant in the Intelligence Department too. Signals analyst?"

Kelly chuckled: "No. I've got a psych degree. Personal Analyst."

"Well, nice to see you two happy. How about we go to breakfast now?"

Samantha looked at her empty teacup. Her dewar flask was already empty and tea

was no longer enough anyway, she needed something to eat now. "Let's go.

**GSV Normandy SR-3, Officer Lounge, Berlin Spaceport, 07:81**

After breakfast, Liara pulled Shepard aside: "Shepard, do you remember what happened the last time we were off-ship for maintenance?"

"We got ambushed and my clone almost killed us all?"

"Yes."

"I guess that means background checks?"

"Exactly. They're still in progress, but it looks good. For now, everyone is cleared."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek: "Good. I don't want any more surprises with...", he stroked over Liara's stomach, "...her on the way."

"Surprises are harmless.", Liara kissed him. She whispered, centimetres from his face: "You can thwart them all."

Shepard smiled: "No. Together, we can." He kissed her again and to his surprise, she initiated a slight meld. In their mutual dream world, the two sat on a balcony overlooking a fantastic realm. On Liara's lap lied a small baby asari. Shepard tickled the back of her crests, and the Little Blue Baby giggled. "Just like her mother.", he chuckled before he kissed Liara once more.

Now, the bond severed again, but the two were still looking into each other's eyes. "Our Future.", Liara commented on the experience. "The sum of our dreams."

"I can't wait.", Shepard replied to his wife.

From behind, an angry voice opened up: "Get a room, you two." Crewman Jeune had started to clean up the remnants of the breakfast, interrupting Shepard and Liara. As Shepard turned around, the cook's face froze as he recognized his Captain's face and he hastily saluted, while stammering: "Captain. Please... Please excuse... I didn't know it was... "

"Apology accepted. Now get to work.", Shepard dryly returned before leaving for the Communications room with Liara.

**GSV Normandy SR-3, Communications Room, Berlin Spaceport, 08:08**

As Shepard entered, the others had already sat down. Garrus greeted him: "Shepard, good that you are here."

"Bonjour, Shepard." The Captain heard someone say. Jean-Charles Moirelle was there too. "Nice ship you have here."

Meanwhile, Gordon was studying the blueprints on his datapad: "Obviously, the calibration process is very delicate and thus taken over by a computer."

"Yes. I wrote the code.", Samantha made herself heard. "It fulfills the specification to the point. The parsing VI analyzed it; it's working as intended."

"We can replicate the circumstances of the incident, and then work from there. If we use a beam ten-thousand times weaker, there is no danger.", Verner proposed.

"How long vill zis take?", Admiral Von Essling asked.

Verner had to think: "A few days, I think."

"Vell, ze schedule leaves two veeks. Leave yourself plenty of time, ya? Do ze zings right, ya?"

"We can do that.", Gordon replied. "Dr. Verner and I will work on the coils. We will simulate the situations and measure the operational precision."

Emily had also made plans: "Good. Sam..., I mean, Dr. Traynor and I can trace for glitches once primary diagnostics are through. Also, we should have a look at the ops-log."

"Oh, EDI can help us with that.", Samantha added. "Can't you?", she asked.

EDI reported in over the intercom: "I surely can, Samantha."

"Is that the AI, EDI?", Emily asked. "The first synthetic citizen?"

"That is indeed the case." EDI commented. "Meet me on the bridge."

Samantha got up: "We're coming, EDI."

After all the engineers had left, Shepard, Kaidan, Von Essling and Schäfer were still sitting there. Von Essling got ready to leave as well: "You zree can oversee ze prozedures, Ya?"

"Ja, Günther, machen wir.", Schäfer answered. "We can oversee this."

"I'll be back.", Von Essling continued. "At 13.00 hours." The Admiral left, leaving the three captains alone with their XO's, but not for long as Liara quickly appeared with Miranda and a man in deck uniform that neither Shepard nor Kaidan knew. The three saluted.

The man shook Shepard's hand: "Lieutenant Commander Jakob Bauer. Alliance Security Service liaison officer on the _Leipzig._"

"We've finished the security briefing and the background checks.", Liara reported.

Miranda continued: "Exactly. Everyone is cleared."

"So, we've got some free time now, have we? How about we have a look at each other's ships now? We could start with the Leipzig.", Schäfer suggested.

"Why not?", Shepard replied. The automated tests would take some time, time in which he couldn't do anything but watch the consoles anyway. "Let's go, Femshep."

**GSV Normandy SR-3, Bridge, Berlin Spaceport, 08:46**

"Welcome, Dr. Vahlen.", EDI greeted Emily.

"Hello, Dr. EDI.", Emily greeted back: "It is an honour to meet you."

"Likewise."

Emily complimented EDI: "Also, I finally get to hear your voice. The synthesis sounds wonderful." She looked at EDI's android body, dressed in an Alliance deck uniform. "And your body has to be a marvel of engineering."

"Thank you.", EDI responded.

Samantha and Kelly had to snigger, prompting a confused Emily to ask: "What's so funny?"

Before Samantha could stop her, EDI had already explained the inside joke to the visitor: "Lieutenant Traynor has previously expressed sexual attraction towards both my voice and my body."

Joker walked up from the flight deck: "EDI, I told you that you shouldn't always be so direct."

EDI reanalyzed the situation: "Apologies."

Samantha had buried her face inside her palm, but Emily just shrugged: "Well, AI's. I think it's funny actually.

"It was before I met Kelly, actually."

Joker gave EDI a quick kiss: "So, what are you going to do now?"

"The diagnostics programs on the _Normandy _are currently running, so we couldn't access the subcontrollers here. We can go to the _Leipzig _and have a look at the subcontrollers there."

"I'm coming with you.", Joker announced. "I'm not needed here anyway and I wanna have a look at the _Leipzig _too."

"Let's go."


	4. As in a Mirror

**SSV Leipzig, Bridge, Berlin Spaceport, 08:72**

Schäfer walked onto her ship, with Shepard, Liara, Garrus and Kaidan in tow. Looking around, the _Leipzig_ seemed a lot like the Normandy, only with a vastly different crew that included significantly more humans. Schäfer walked up to the Conn, where Commander Moirelle was sitting in the XO's chair.

"Impressive.", Garrus whistled.

"Well, the _Normandy's_ not bad either.", Schäfer admitted. She called the elevator. "We can talk in the officers' lounge."

A female Turian ran on board: "Excuse me. I'm late."

Garrus turned around, surprised, having heard that voice before: "Gallia!"

"Garrus.", the equally surprised visitor answered in a cold tone. Then, she fell into a chuckle: "It's been too long."

"Yes, it has."

Kaidan stepped forward: "So, uh, you know each other?"

"Yeah, we do." Garrus laughed. "Gallia, still as flexible as in the old days?"

"And you, do you still have the same reach?", she quipped.

"Yeah, I do.", Garrus replied. "You can ask our Chief Engineer."

"Are you guys coming along?", Schäfer asked from inside the elevator.

"Yes, we are." Liara answered.

**SSV Leipzig, Officers' Lounge**

After having dropped off Garrus and Gallia at the CIC, the group entered the officers' lounge. It looked roughly the same as on the _Normandy_, only the furniture was placed slightly differently.

"Have a seat.", Schäfer said. "So, how are things on the new _Normandy_? Last time we met, it was at an N7 exercise. And now, we both have commands again and I'm a Spectre too."

"Yes, it's been some time. Well, I can't complain."

"I wouldn't either – with someone like Liara at my side. Even if I really can't complain myself." After a pause, Schäfer resumed: "Sorry I couldn't be at your wedding. Duty had called."

"Would have loved to see you there.", Liara replied. "It was a nice day."

"As they say, duty is duty and schnapps is schnapps." She pondered the sentence again. "Wait, that only works in the original German. "

"And, how are things going on the _Leipzig_?", Shepard asked.

"Pretty well. We're slowly building momentum."

"Missions so far?"

"A few combat missions. No KIA's, yet. Fortunately. And then, of course some recon and some assistance missions."

"We've had a lot of combat. But, no KIA's too.", Shepard added.

"There are also no KIA's on the _Ashley Williams. _In combat missions.", Kaidan continued. "Oh dear, I hope we find that glitch."

"We will. Freeman, Vahlen, Verner, Traynor… We've got the best people on the case."

**SSV Leipzig, Tactical Information Center**

"Looks good in here.", Garrus commented. The TIC, a new concept combining several aspects of combat that replaced the CIC on the new Normandy-II's, was staffed with even more Turians than the one on the Normandy. Clearly, a Turian was in charge here. "Where's the CTO?", he asked.

An inconspicuous woman got up from a chair. "She's already here." The woman got up, walked up to Garrus' and saluted: "Lieutenant Commander Melissa Von Essling. Welcome aboard, Commander."

"Oh. Good Morning." Now, that was something Garrus hadn't expected. At all. She was not Turian. In fact, she looked like quite the opposite. And yet, her posture and most importantly her insignias showed that she certainly was a force to be reckoned with. No less than four gold-on-red bars for distinguished service were visible on her badge.

And then there was her last name. Von Essling, same as the Admiral. Maybe she was his daughter. Clearly, she had been up to more bravery than her small figure would have let on. Turian at heart.

"Relax. We're just having a look.", Garrus chuckled. He hated going all-formal.

"Certainly.", Melissa answered. The legend, the man himself, Garrus Vakarian, was standing in front of her.

"In fact, call me Garrus.", he offered.

"And me Gallia."

"I'm Mel.", she smiled. "Do you want a look around?"

"Sure. Let's see how you did this without a Turian in charge."

"Oh quite simple actually. Read the manual, find all problems, solve them."

"So basically, you did this the Turian way."

"Well, I prefer to call it the German Way, but yes."

"I take it the Admiral is your father?"

"Yes. He is." Mel handed a DataPad to Garrus: "Have a look at our operations log."

Garrus looked over the log, then handed the Pad to Gallia: "Impressive. Efficient operation. Your crew's gotta be well attuned."

"We can look at the Thanix Cannon now. Let's see what the engineers are doing."

"Let's go."

**SSV Leipzig, Bridge, 9:32**

Joker walked up to the Flight Deck of the _Leipzig _and looked around. Here, no AI had taken over the functions and several seats were left free for assisting helmsmen.

"Looking for something?", he was called from behind.

"No, I'm just...", he turned around: "having a look."

"Lieutenant Lea Wasz." The woman stretched out her hand: "And you must be

Lieutenant Jeffrey Moreau?"

"He smiled: "Well, yeah. But everyone calls me Joker."

"Nice to meet you, Joker. Call me Lea.", she smiled.

So, this was the pilot of the Leipzig. "How is it, steering the _Leipzig_?"

"Oh right. Well, you have your EDI, do you?"

"I still pilot myself. Mostly.", Joker said, slightly miffed. Of course, EDI wasn't that important to the ship. Except she was. He realised that Lea was right. "Well, she might help a little."

"Now, I have some VIs and two co-pilots for that."

"Well, I have…" Joker couldn't finish his sentence as EDI walked in.

"Jeff, I have…", she noticed Lea: "Hello. You must be Lieutenant Wasz."

She reached her hand out to the android: "Cześć! Call me Lea. You're EDI, right?"

"That is correct, yes."

"Awesome. I couldn't wait to meet you one day. Literally talking to a ship is a lot different."

"Be nice to her, Lea.", Joker warned. "Otherwise she'll take your job one day."

Lea lifted an eyebrow: "So, you were always nice to her."

Joker scratched the back of his head: "Yes, with her being my girlfriend and everything…"

"So…, you're…", Lea stretched out her sentence, unsure if she wanted to finish it.

"If you are seeking to suggest that I am in a sexual relationship with Jeff, I can indeed confirm your assumption."

"Oh EDI, not again." Joker said while the palm of his hand firmly rested against his forehead. "Please, EDI."

Lea had her index finger raised, as if to say something. When she finally got ready to react, a voice called her over the intercom: "Wash, Mc'Leary here. Have you finished the flight logs yet? The VIs threw a discrepancy. You know what Femshep does when she finds out about that."

"Alright, I'm coming.", Lea annoyedly responded. "See you later, then."

After she left, EDI put her arms around Jeff's neck in the now empty flight deck. He reacted by smiling and put his hands around her waist as well.

"What are you up to?", he asked her, giving her a kiss.

"I don't know, yet. It's mostly news I have for you."

"What kind of news? Good news I hope."

"Indeed. Shiala just called."

Joker remembered the night before Shepard's wedding that Shiala had joined him and EDI in bed. She had come back to Vancouver with them the day after the wedding, but had to leave before Joker and EDI got a chance for round three.

When she suddenly turned up on Joker's holiday in Riverside, Iowa, the vacation became even better and Joker and EDI had found a friend with benefits. He hadn't heard from her since. Maybe, she wanted to come back for round three?

"She said she'd be on Earth for a few days. I told her that we could meet tonight."

"Well, that'll be... fun.", Joker commented.

**SSV Leipzig, Bridge, 9:61**

"So, apparently a human can do this after all.", Garrus quipped as the three entered the bridge after their tour of the TIC. "Good job you're doing here."

"I sure hope so. Don't want to disappoint Jane."

"So, what are we going to do now?", Gallia asked. "Meet up with the Captains?"

"Ja, we can do that.", Mel answered. "I have to get our dog first, though. Let's go."

"Well, better not leave the Captains waiting.", Garrus commented. "Where is he?"

"He's in my quarter.", she replied. "I'll call the elevator." Mel pushed a button, and the doors opened. After everyone was inside, she pushed the button for Deck 1.

"Deck 1?", Garrus asked. "So, you live in the Captain's quarters."

"Sure I do.", Mel chuckled. "Jane's my fiancée."

"Oh, alright. Didn't expect that."

**SSV Leipzig, Officer Lounge**

The door opened and the three tactical officer's strode through. Mel had Sigmund, her and Femshep's German Shepherd, on a leash. "Jane, we're back." She released the dog, and he immediately jumped to the Captain's feet.

"And, did the Gentlemen like the Tactical Information Center?", she asked while ruffling through his fur.

"Looking good.", Gallia commented.

"Absolutely." Garrus added. "And hey, your Tactical Officer's now officially a honorary Turian."

Shepard watched Femshep ruffle through Sigmund's fur: "So, German Shepard, huh?"

"Yes, he's really…", Femshep started before she went over the sentence once again in her mind: "Yes. We're two letters apart."

"Well, he looks a lot nicer than the Varren on Feros.", Liara commented. "How about we have a look at the Normandy next?"

"Alright, we can do that.", Femshep replied. "It's not like we can do anything else while the Engineers solve the problem."


	5. A Long Day

**G****SV**_** Normandy**_**, Bridge, Berlin Spaceport, 1****1****.****72**

Finally, the preliminary diagnostics were through and the Ops-logs of the three ships were, along with the detailed measurements from the rail coils, saved to the console.

"Sammy, we've got all the data we need."

"Finally.", Samantha fell back into chair. Collecting the data from the _SSV Leipzig _and the _Normandy _had been easy, but getting the data from the _SSV Ashley Williams _had been a little more difficult. The bus to the Thanix Cannon was damaged, so the data had to be read out manually. Anyway, now Phase I was done. Phase II was going to follow. Looking into her empty Dewar flask, Samantha sighed: "I'll get some more tea. Some for you too?"

"Sure. Too much coffee can't be good."

"I'll get some."

"Actually...", Emily got up, "we should have lunch now. About time."

Samantha looked at the clock and instantly felt hungry: "Actually, yeah. Let's go."

"I will move my mobile platform to the officer lounge accordingly.", EDI reported in from the Thanix room.

**GSV Normandy, Officer lounge, Berlin Spaceport, 11.76**

The officer lounge had already emptied slightly, but the engineers were still sitting around one of the tables. EDI was there too, with Joker. Gordon, Kenneth, Gabby and Conrad were sitting there as well, having already eaten.

"So, here come the Computer Scientists.", Gordon commented as Emily sat down beside him.

She gave him a quick kiss: "Oh, you."

"Have you successfully isolated the fault in the system?", EDI asked the two as Samantha joined them.

"No, not yet."

"We'll have to continue after lunch, actually.", Samantha added. "Oh well, let's eat."

**GSV Normandy, MedBay, Berlin Spaceport, 12.16**

Dr. Chakwas was sitting in her chair, bored. With no one currently in treatment, there wasn't exactly anything to do. Well, there were a lot of medical journals she hadn't read yet. She picked an article at random. Just as she got ready to read it, the door opened. The CMO of the _Ashley Williams _entered and greeted her: "Karin."

"Chloe.", Chakwas greeted her. Dr. Chloe Michel had assumed the position of CMO on Kaidan's ship on Shepard's recommendation. "It's been to long."

"Yes, it has.", Chloe went in for a hug.

"Everything in order on the _Normandy_?"

"Yes, fortunately."

"I can't complain about things on the _Leipzig _either. Well, except that thing with the accident two days ago."

"I heard. Must have been bad."

"Internal burns in the lung are horrible."

"Well, yes...", Chakwas was interrupted by the door to the MedBay opening again. A middle-aged man in Medical Uniform strode through. She immediately recognized him: "Greg!"

"Karin!", he responded to her. Dr. Gregorio Casa, as his full name was, was no stranger to her. She'd met him in medical school.

Chloe stretched out her hand: "Chloe Michel. Nice to meet you."

"Gregorio Casa, nice to meet you too."

"So, you two already know each other?"

"Yes, we do. Same class at Heidelberg MedSchool."

**GSV Normandy, Deck 2 Hallway, Berlin Spaceport, 12.31**

Kelly returned from her quarters, looking for Samantha. The hours that Samantha had worked on the bus had been the longest time the two had been separated in weeks. Now, she stood just in front of the bridge blast doors and stepped forward to activate the motion sensor.

On the other side, she was faced by a person she hadn't seen in a long time. "Kelly, is that you?", she was asked.

"Surprised, Mel?", she returned.

"Hah, the De-Mel-Isher is back!", Melissa answered. It had been a long time since she had met Kelly.

"Well, I preferred 'Infiltrator Tits'. Funnier.", Kelly quipped. After trying in vain to get her comrades to loosen up on shore leave during the war, Mel had finally convinced Kelly, at the time just a nameless refugee with a psych-degree to go on a party with her. The memory was epic and brought back Kelly's memory of her days as a college student in Orange County, California. Kelly found out that life wasn't so bad after all and Mel found out that Asari weren't the only females she liked.

"Yeah, those days were epic."

"Yes. Were.", Kelly added in a sombre tone.

"So, we're big girls now. No more partying, no more drinking, and no more threesomes with Asari."

Kelly had to snigger: "Well, speak for yourself. Sam's very accommodating in that respect."

"Well, I already like him."

"Err, Sam is short for Samantha."

"Well, then I like her too."

"You would. And you? Did you,", Kelly made air-quotes with her fingers, "grow up?"

"Like a stable, committed relationship? Yes."

"So, is he or she stationed on the Leipzig too?"

"Well, stationed is not really the word you'd use, but yes. After all, she's the captain."

"Major Schäfer, interesting."

"Yeah, she's one hell of a woman."

"How did you meet?"

"Oh, I pulled her ass out of a broken Panzer, the day we freed earth.", Mel recounted. "Anyway, where did you want to go?"

"Go see Sam, I'm bored. And you?"

"I wanted to help out Jane in down in the Thanix room. All the Panzers are in prime condition and I have to work on something, do I? One more person with an engineering degree can't be bad."

Kelly was surprised: "What, you have an engineering degree? Honestly, hadn't expected that. You always seemed more like the girl for some heavy action."

"Heh.", Mel chuckled. "Well, hurting people with engineering is the best, but there isn't always an opportunity. This will have to do."

"See you later.", Kelly wished her goodbye, at least for now.

"To the evening, to be exact.", Mel returned. "We're having a night out, and you are definitely coming with us!"

Kelly had to laugh in anticipation: "I can't wait."

**GSV Normandy, Bridge, Berlin Spaceport, 12.98**

Everyone on the – almost empty – bridge bridge fell silent as Von Essling, Coats and Hackett entered. Liara was first to react: "Welcome aboard, Admiral!", she saluted.

"Commander T'Soni, how's the intel doing?"

"Well. I assume you're here for Shepard?"

"Yes, ve are.", Von Essling replied instead of Hackett. "Vere are zey? On ze _Leipzig_?"

"No, they are working on the Thanix…", Liara started as the door to the bridge opened again. The engineers walked through with the captain's and the tactical officers.

Upon seeing the Admirals, Samantha saluted: "We have successfully traced the glitch."

"Now, that's bloody excellent, Traynor.", Coats replied.

"Ver is ze glitsch?", his German Colleague added.

"One of the coils had a containment field of insufficient strength.", Gordon reported.

"Yes, but there was no faulty command and the measurements on the functioning coils show no obvious fault. We're not done yet.", Femshep added.

"Vell, zat's some progress ve hev here now, Ya?", Von Essling replied.

"Finally, we do.", Samantha had walked up to her console, where a fresh dewar flask with tea was waiting, courtesy of Kelly. "I can't wait to go on."

"Tomorrow.", Von Essling returned. "You have your 6.5 hours of work through by long. Now is Feierabend, I'd say."

"Well, Shepard, that's it for today." Schäfer got ready to leave. "By the way, we should go out tonight. I want to show you a nice pub here in Berlin"

"That sounds very nice.", Liara commented as the crowd of engineers slowly left, dispersing to their quarters.

"Let's meet up at 19.50 hours."

"What are we going to do before that? Have a look at the city?", Liara asked her husband.

"Liara, no. I have to sleep now. It's already been a long day."

She had to chuckle: "Of course."

Garrus suddenly felt a tug on his shoulder. Of course, it was Tali. Who else could deliver a coded request so sweetly: "Garrus, I think my suit needs a bit of calibration. We have some time now, so why don't we go down to engineering and..."

"Of course.", he replied to her. Engineering was empty now, and the Computer Core most certainly was too.

But before the two could slip off, Hackett still wanted something fro Tali: "Admiral Zorah, are you acclimatising well to the Normandy?"

Tali hadn't been called "Admiral" in a long time, much less by a non-Quarian, yet it was correct. Officially, she was both an Admiral of the Quarian Fleet and a Lieutenant Commander of the Systems Alliance, a deal worked out to let her serve under Shepard – and with Garrus, which was more important to her. "Yes, everything is alright."

"Glad to hear that, Miss Zorah."

"Admiral, I have to leave now and…"

"Sure, you have to.", Hackett finally let the two Dextros leave.

**GSV Normandy, Computer Core**

As soon as the door closed behind them, Tali jumped up to the security camera, unplugging it from the bus, as Garrus activated a lockdown on the door, having already disconnected the servos from the bus.

Finally, the two had some time alone after a day of stress. Garrus wrapped his arms around Tali as she reached to the back of her mask, opening the visor. Before she had opportunity to take her helmet off, Garrus had already kissed her. Nibbling gently on her lips, she shuddered with excitement for the next few hours. They had time; the 'Earth Turians', as Garrus called them, had said they would come back at 19.50 hours; and they wouldn't be a minute early.


	6. After Duty

**Alliance Yard, Berlin Spaceport, 17:45**

As Femshep walked down the gangway off the _Leipzig, _she immediately recognized a person, standing in the distance, just beside a Kodiak that had landed at the same dock, just further down. He was wearing the blue deck uniform of an Admiral and, as she got closer, his short grey hair became obvious.

Of course, it was Admiral Von Essling, who had just come back from the Turian embassy. As Femshep came closer, he called out to her: "Hallo! Schäfer, hierher! Hier ist wer für dich." So someone wanted to visit her. But who?

She called back "Hallo Günther! Wer ist das denn?" as she came closer, wondering who could possibly be still in that shuttle that it was so important. But when she reached the shuttle, the person standing inside became obvious immediately to her: It was Rear-Admiral Hannah Schäfer who was standing inside. Jane's mother.

Hannah had a slightly older face than Femshep, but the same red hair and green eyes, after all, she was her mother. "Jana.", her mother greeted and opened her arms for a hug with her daughter.

Femshep came in closer and put her arms around her mother. It had been months since they had last met and a tear of joy quietly rolled down Jane's freckled cheek. "Mama."

After holding her daughter in her arms for a few more moments, Hannah let go again and looked over her daughters uniform. "Just look at you! My girl's a Major now.", she gently put her hand on Jane's shoulder.

"And my mother a Rear-Admiral.", Femshep reacted. "You're the XO of the _SSV Mont Blanc _now, I hear."

"Yes, of course. Günther's a good CO too."

"Nice to hear." Femshep paused for a moment. "Are you already doing something tonight? I wanted to show Shepard my favorite pub here in Berlin."

Hannah laughed slightly: "If you want your old mother to come along, sure, why not?"

"Just wait here, I'll pick up the others.", Femshep excused herself as she walked away again.

As she approached the Normandy, Shepard, Liara, Garrus, Tali, Samantha, Kelly, Kaidan and Jack were already exiting through the airlock.

"Shepard.", she called out.

The General-Commander turned around: "Femshep." After looking down the docking bay he asked: "Where's Mel?"

"Oh, she's coming in a bit."

"Well, then. We should go.", Shepard added. He couldn't wait to see the pub, and maybe talk about some stories from the war. He figured Femshep would have a lot to tell; after all, she fought on earth during the war where she couldn't pick her fights.

"Yeah, let's do that."

As the group approached the shuttle, Mel was already waiting: "Jane, you're late." With an exaggerated German accent, she continued: "Zat is not acceptable, Ya?"

"You're impossible sometimes, do you know that?", Femshep asked her.

"And proudly so.", Mel responded as she gave Jane a quick kiss.

"Yes, that's true.", Jane commented as she followed Mel into the shuttle, with the others following suit.

**Pub "The Wall", Berlin, 17:62**

Femshep came back from the bar and sat down at the table, where the others already waited. "I ordered us a round of beer."

"Well, it's certainly nice to sit down somewhere other than a starship for once.", Liara initiated the conversation. "Right, Shepard?"

Her husband was interrupted from looking around the pub: "Yes. I love sitting down with a few friends." The wall on the other side of the room was decorated with a piece of concrete inside a plexiglass case.

"This has some _Gemütlichkeit, _as you'd say, right?", Kaidan asked Femshep.

"Yeah, this is quite _gemütlich._ I've come here every time I have shore leave in Berlin. I always come for the free beer and stay for the cozyness."

"Cozyness?", Kaidan replied, slightly confused. "That's an awefully mundane word."

"I like it.", Jack entered herself into the conversation. "Rolls off the tongue so easily."

Now, the waitress arrived with a full tray and started putting down drinks. Everyone now had half a litre of beer in front of him. "On the house as usual, Major Schäfer.", the waitress said as she left again, with a now empty tray.

"On the house? Why that?", Kelly asked Femshep.

"Oh, it's a long story, but basically I saved the owner's life in the war.", the Major responded, somehow surprising no one.

"Ah yes, ze war.", Von Essling reminiscenced.

"Well, I'd like to hear that story actually.", Samantha said as she picked up her glass to have a drink of beer. First, she noticed how cold it was. After all, it wasn't Ale that Femshep had ordered, but _Weizen. _Then_,_ she noticed the taste. While it wasn't better or worse than English beer, or any other beer she had ever had, it tasted decidedly different.

"Well, it started on a Tuesday in August. The day the reapers attacked. Someone had to evacuate all those people from Berlin. I tried, and it worked. We got almost everyone out. The owner of this pub was one of them."

"So, how did things continue? Being stuck on earth with the reapers loose can't have been fun. Where was your crew?", Garrus asked. Among the Turian Hierarchy the story of Schäfer was often cited as a brilliant example of bravery, independent thinking and ultimate victory.

"Well, 75 days of hell was what is was. It took us a month to even begin to gain the upper hand. Evacuating entire cities is tough enough, but we got shot at all the time. Then, by the time it was clear the Crucible would soon be finished, we began to push through Europe. The reapers had left us with a lot of chances, and we took them."

Hannah took the opportunity to pat her daughter on her shoulder. "You really made your mother proud, Jana", she smiled.

"Och, Mama, jetzt nicht.", her daughter rebuked her. "Not now."

"And yet, in the end someone had to rescue you.", Mel chuckled. "Of course, I didn't mind. It was epic."

Femshep laughed: "Ja, it was."

"So someone had to rescue... You?", Tali asked, unbelieving. Major Schäfer, the badass female equivalent to Shepard, had to get rescued? How did that happen?

"Well, yes.", Femshep admitted.

"It's a funny story, actually.", her girlfriend admitted. "It all began when the Hammer forces retreated through Kensington."

**Kensington, London, Earth, 2186.10.19, 00:41**

The Hammerhead bounced off a piece of debris and was flung into the air before, with help of the thrusters, coming to a stable drive again. The hordes of husks got denser and denser and even the unrelenting fire of the tank platoon couldn't hold them any further. Sporadic air support, which cleared the road again, was the only source of breathing space.

The orginal orders of the Platoon that Mel led had been simple: divert hostile forces from the main target. It had worked well, too well. But she had her orders and understood how important her role now was. Here, this post, was the only chance that Hammer would get to reach the Citadel.

Finally, a report came in: "Hammer got punched up bad, but Shepard is on the Citadel. I repeat, Shepard is on the Citadel.", along with new orders: "Regroup at Victoria embankment." New orders. Finally.

"We gotta move!", she called into the comm to her platoon. "Break through to the Thames and find a bridge that's still intact."

"Got it, ma'am.", she heard back.

Suddenly, another message came in, from Major Coats: "Anvil Gold-2 calling Hammer Alpha-November-9. You're the closest unit near the location of Anvil Red-1. They're pinned down there. Find Commander Schaefer and her unit and help them get out of there."

"Understood.", Mel acknowledged the new orders. She activated her comm: "Change of plan, boys."

Meanwhile, Femshep was at the end of her strength as the reaper troops kept and kept on coming. Just as she saw the approaching friendly Hammerheads in the distance, a rocket, fired by a Brute, struck her vehicle.

Escaping barely through the hatch, she was knocked off her feet with what seemed like the fist of an angry god and smashed against a wall when subsequent rockets hit the tank that was now unshielded. Her ears were ringing, and every fibre of her body felt as if it had been lit on fire while her vision clouded. She just wanted to nod off to eternal Oblivion now, to fall asleep once and forever.

But then, another voice appeared in her head and she opened her eyes to reveal a female Lieutenant holding out her hand: "Schäfer! Good to see you! We have to get out of here!"

Femshep took a moment to come to her senses again, as the Lieutenant supported her walking to the still working Hammerhead. Once inside, they both collapsed against a seat.

"We'll be safe in here, Ma'am." Her rescuer reached up and closed the hatch after the three other soldiers that had stumbled inside. "We will be safe in the Panzer, Ya?"

"Lieutenant, what's your name?"

"Von Essling, Ma'am."

From the inside of the tank, a medic appeared who applied MediGel to Femshep and her injured comrades, blissfully removing the agonising pain she had.

"And yes, I'm the Admiral's daughter.", the Lieutenant added as she took off her helmet, revealing a beautiful face.

A man bowed down from the front turret-dome with bad news: "Mel, we've gotta get moving. Bloody Reapers are moving again."

"Where will we move? The Reaper have us circled in."

Femshep looked out of the view screen. The Hammerheads were already firing at the advancing Husks, Brutes and Marauders, but barely managed to hold the line. All hope had already seemed lost, when then a familiar voice reported in over the intercom:

"Femshep, please come in.", a voice said in a french accent that Schaefer immediately recognised. Moirelle, XO of the SSV Leipzig, had returned to Earth along with Sword fleet.

"We're here.", she responded. It was her ship that had hailed them - was it going to rescue them?

Another voice came on the comm: "ETA's three minutes, Commander. Keep your spirits up, we're coming to get you."

"Leah, is that you?"

"Yes, it is. Hold on tight, we're coming."

"Your ship?", Lieutenant Von Essling asked. "Coming to get us?"

"Hell yeah, they are.", she replied while removing her helmet. Being able to finally breathe unfiltered air again, she shook her her head with its red hair. Knowing that their crew would rescue them, Femshep relaxed a bit and introduced herself: "By the way, I'm Jane, but everybody calls me Femshep."

The Lieutenant smiled: "I'm Melissa, but everybody calls me Mel."

"Nice to meet you, Mel.", Femshep replied, now smiling too.

The _SSV Leipzig,_ swooped in and fired its weapons at the ground, obliterating the approaching reaper forces.

"Our ticket out of here. Let's go.", Femshep called as she jumped out of the Hammerhead.

The other soldiers were following her and Mel while Moirelle gave cover fire with his rifle. As soon as all the soldiers had entered, Leah pulled the _Leipzig _upwards, just in time to give everyone on the bridge a view at the rapidly expanding cloud of red that was emitted from the Citadel.

**Pub "The Wall", Berlin, 18:03**

"And that's how we met.", Mel concluded her story.

"That's...", Garrus had to admit, "quite epic."

"As was the entire last week of the war.", she added. "I went from 2nd Lieutenant to Staff Lieutenant within that week."

"Actually, I now want to know your side of the story too, Shepard.", Femshep asked him. "Was it quite as epic?"

Shepard began: "Probably. If you want to hear the whole thing, we have to begin 5 years ago, in Earth Orbit en route to Eden Prime."

Jack leaned over to Femshep: "I'd get another round of beer, girl. This is gonna take quite a bit of time."

**GSV Normandy SR-3, Berlin Spaceport, 18:43**

The entire bridge was mostly dark now, except for Joker who was sitting at his console, reading things on the extranet. He'd have come with Shepard, had EDI not invited Shiala over for tonight. That would be better than any night out with friends.

Suddenly, the door opened behind him and Joker expected a member of the night shift crew to enter. Instead, EDI entered. With a visitor in tow. "Hello, Joker.", the green Asari greeted him.

"Hello, Shiala.", Joker responded. Treating Shiala as a friend he and EDI just happened to sleep with was had been a good idea, better than trying to work out a three-people relationship that no one was really interested in.

EDI put her hand on Joker's shoulder: "Jeff, if you do not object, we should proceed to our quarters now."

He got up: "Sure." Actually, he couldn't wait.

Shiala stroked over his chest: "You look even better in uniform." Her hand wandered over to his girlfriend: "And you too, EDI."

Joker put one arm around EDI and one around Shiala, prompting the two to walk forwards, towards his room. When he met James in the hallway, who had his arm around Lieutenant Westmoreland from the _SSV Leipzig,_ both of them had to chuckle. Joker held his hand up for a casual high-five and James accepted. Both of them knew why they hadn't gone to the pub with the others; and they wouldn't regret it.


	7. City Trip

**GSV**_** Normandy **_**SR-3, Captain's Cabin, Berlin Spaceport, 2188.8.10, 06:81**

As Shepard slowly opened his eyes, he felt his wife's blue arm around his chest and her face snuggled up against the side of his neck. Even after having known her for so many years, and having been married to her for one month, waking up next to her morning for morning was still so... wonderful.

Now, Liara woke up as well and, upon seeing her husband's already opened eyes, purred: "Morning, Shepard. Did you sleep well?"

"Sure." He kissed her: "We should get up now."

She responded by snuggling up even closer to him: "I'd rather stay here for a bit, if you know what I mean..."

"Well, if you want to, we can..."

"Embrace Eternity?", Liara cheekily asked.

"Sure.", Shepard smiled. "A good way to start the morning, isn't it?"

"I guess.", Liara chuckled: "Then relax, Shepard." As she rolled on top of her husband, his strong arms wrapped around her back. With him so close, she slowly reached up to his temples and looked upwards. Her eyes turned black and it was done - she had melded their minds. His thoughts were her thoughts, her thoughts were his thoughts.

Again, they sat on the balcony in their shared dream, and again their daughter was with them. She was a bit bigger now; in human terms, she looked about four. "Mammy! Dwaddy!", she called out in her childlike voice. Shepard tickled her chin, making both his daughter and his wife laugh out.

"Go play outside now, will you?", Liara asked their Little Blue Child.

"Yes, Mammy.", she called out before running out of the room.

Now, Shepard and Liara were alone again. "So, what comes now?", he asked his wife. Of course, he already knew the answer.

"Something more... intimate, Shepard. And we won't need as deep a meld."

Now, the two found each other back in their bed, and Liara was still atop Shepard. Instead of sharing a dream, the two now instead shared just their thoughts and feelings. Liara began to take off her night shirt and Shepard was busy with his pants.

Then, before the two could proceed any further, the Comm rang and Kelly was on the line: "Captain, we have visitors."

"Visitors? Who?", Shepard asked while Liara was still determined to go through with their original plan. "Tell them to wait, we're... I mean, I am..." Shepard looked down, where Liara hadn't stopped. His wife couldn't really do that what it looked like, could she? She did. "Hmmpf...busy!", he continued, gasping.

"Everything alright, Shepard?", Kelly asked over the Comm, oblivious to what was going on in his bed.

"Kelly, this is a bad time, believe me.", Liara called into the comm.

"Too late, she already took the elevator. Hurry.", Kelly advised the two. Finally, the Yeowoman had understood what was going on.

"Who? Kelly, who?", Shepard called back, but it was already too late: they heard the door of the elevator outside their cabin open.

"Goddess, Blankets!", Shepard heard from Liara. Now, controlling potential damage was the only possible thing left to do.

Just as Liara disappeared back under her blanket, the door finally opened and no one less than Femshep strode through. As she realised what she had walked in on, she stopped dead in her tracks: "Guten Morgen and sorry, I thought you were already up."

"Well, we aren't.", Shepard answered, annoyed.

"Anyway, how about we meet for breakfast on the _Leipzig _when you're done here?"

"That sounds like a good idea, if you ask me.", Liara dryly replied.

"Good. See you on my ship."

As Schäfer left again, Shepard sighed. His morning activity with Liara had now been thoroughly ruined. "We should get up now, Liara."

"Yes, we should."

**SSV **_**Leipzig**_**, Officer Lounge, Berlin Spaceport, 07:32**

Shepard, Liara and Garrus entered the Officer Lounge of the _Normandy's_ sister ship. The crew of the _Leipzig _had already served coffee, of which Shepard helped himself to a cup. Liara stuck to tea while Garrus got himself a cup of the Dextro-chiral coffee that Gallia had brought with herself.

"Slept well?", Mel asked the three.

"Sure.", Garrus answered first.

"We slept well too.", Liara began too.

Shepard smiled: "Sure we did."

Femshep visibly supressed a smile: "I did too."

Mel kissed her on the cheek, adding: "Ja, we did for sure."

"Anyway, what are we going to do today? Continue to solve the problem with the Thanix?", Shepard asked while clinging to his coffee.

"Yes, I already sent for Dr. Vahlen and Dr. Freeman. They know what to do.", Femshep replied just as the door to the Officer's lounge opened, revealing the engineers that had already worked on the cannon yesterday.

"Well, we'll have to run the automated testing protocols first to find the critical parameters. Looks like that will take a day.", Dr. Vahlen informed the others of their progress.

Samantha got herself a cup of tea and sat down: "Well, this wasn't easy. We had to isolate all the potentially faulty parameters and had to consider multidimensional faults."

"It looks like we can just walk away from the thing in a bit.", Conrad Verner added himself into the conversation.

"So, basically, we've got some free time on our hands, right?", Mel asked.

"Looks like it, Mel.", Femshep replied to her girlfriend. She turned to the guests from the _Normandy_: "Shepard, have you ever seen Berlin?"

"Not beyond the Spaceport, no.", he replied.

"Well then, what do you think of a city tour?", Femshep asked.

Liara turned to her husband before he could react: "Well, I would certainly not mind, Shepard."

Shepard got up, having finished his coffee. A city tour seemed like a good idea: "Alright. When are we leaving?"

"I'd say at 10:00 hours.", Mel suggested. "Plenty of time to have a look around."

"Good.", Garrus reacted. "I should have a look at the Turian Embassy anyway."

Femshep smiled: "You'll like it here."

"I always wanted to visit Berlin.", Liara added. "Much of human history in your 20th century took place here."

**Rapid Transport, Paris Square Station, Berlin, 10:21**

The PA-system of the RT-car the group was travelling in announced the next stop: "Ze next stop is Paris Square, Senk you for trewalling vis Deutsche Raumhansa."

"So, they still haven't changed that announcement.", Samantha commented. When she had spent a summer in Germany with Emily, this idiosyncratic announcement had been exactly the same.

"They never will.", Mel replied. "Why would they? It's just a running gag by now." After all, announcement was almost two-hundred years old in its earliest incarnation.

As the group left the station, the _Brandenburg Gate, _formally a city gate of Berlin, was visible in all its glory, the quadriga on top bathed in the light of the rising sun.

Noticeably many Turians were walking across the square among the many humans. Of course – the biggest Turian community outside of Palaven and the Citadel was on Earth, here in Berlin.

"I feel like – home.", Garrus said as he walked out into the open.

"Yes, yes you would.", Femshep replied to the Turian. "Just wait till you see Kreuzberg. It's almost entirely Turian there. You'd have trouble finding Levo-food."

"How about a history lesson, Shepard?", Liara asked her husband.

"Sure, why not?"

"This building was built by the Prussian Empire at the end of your 18th century. The French emperor Napoleon rode in through it when he had conquered Prussia. Similarly, when he had been defeated, the victorious Prussian army marched through here. The National-Socialist extremists of your 20th century, the Red Army of the Soviet Union and the Fall of the Berlin Wall that ended the Human First Cold war all happened here."

"A fascinating piece of history that we have here.", Garrus commented. "You should have seen the monument of the first Primarch on Palaven."

"Speaking of Palaven, didn't you want to visit the Turian embassy later?", Tali asked.

"Yes, I wanted to.", Garrus answered. "But that can wait."

**Museum of Prussian History, Berlin, 10:21**

Meanwhile the group had gotten to the Museum Liara had wanted to visit. Mel and Femshep had left for a café, where the others would go after their museum visit.

"Ah yes. The Iron Chancellor.", Liara introduced everyone to the picture of the famed Prussian Prime Minister, Otto Von Bismarck.

"I assume 'Von' does not refer to the strength of his bladder?"

"Ah no, Tali. It is a title of nobility, literally meaning 'Of'."

"I like the Prussians more and more.", Garrus pointed at the vast assortment of military gear.

Liara chuckled: "A human historian once said: 'Prussia is not a country with an army, it is an army with a country.' And he wasn't exaggerating."

"Well, they also thought of the whole 'meritocracy' thing, didn't they?"

"Yes. The monarchs considered themselves servants of the people and deferred to their advisors. The empire fell apart when one Emperor got too power hungry and started the World War One of Humanity."

Garrus looked around, seeing all the historical weapons and uniforms displayed. He'd have to watch some Extranet documentaries. Of course, there was another thing he'd wanted to see in Berlin, entirely unrelated to the Prussians: "Say, when did we want to join the _Leipzig_ girls? There's something I wanted to pick up on the way."

"What?", Tali asked.

Garrus smiled: "Chocolate."


	8. Sans Souci

**Paris Street, Berlin, 10:82**

"I like this chocolate." Garrus told Tali. "You should try it too."

"Should I? Well, if you say so?", Tali picked up one of the pieces Garrus offered her. The Dextro-Chocolate made by the humans in Berlin was certainly better than the moonshine chocolate the Quarian Fleet had had before her Pilgrimage. With its square shape, it looked a bit Turian. Tali raised her visor and put one of the pieces in her mouth. "It's delicious."

"Human food's better than Turian, that's for sure. Finally, they made Dextro-chocolate."

Meanwhile, Shepard was browsing through the assortments of chocolate flavours when one flavour in particular caught his eye. "Is that…", he asked Liara, "Maple Syrup flavoured chocolate?"

"Yes, Shepard.", she replied. "Do you want to buy some?"

"Yeah, sure.", he pushed a button on his CommPad: "Kaidan. You should see this."

**Restaurant "Sigmund Jähn", Berlin, 11:21**

"That was a great tip, Shepard.", Kaidan commented.

"So you found the local chocolate store.", Femshep asked.

"It's a good thing we did.", Tali replied.

"Nice. So, what are your further plans for today?", Mel asked.

Garrus looked at the time on his CommPad: "Well, I have to go to the Turian embassy later today. But there's still some time."

"We should eat something.", Liara suggested. On the Menu-DataPad, she pulled up the 'specialties': "Currywurst?", she read out. "What's that?"

"Well, it's a kind of sausage with curry sauce.", Femshep attempted an answer. "Why don't you try it?"

"Sounds good.", Kelly replied. "What will you have, Samantha?"

Her girlfriend was still pondering her food order, seeing as how her allergy made anything containing curry an impossible option: "The fried chicken looks good."

"Well then.", Femshep placed her order on the MenuPad. "So, you wanted to visit the Turian Embassy in Palais Sanssouci later, didn't you?"

"Yes. The Hierarchy wanted to see me. Don't know why."

"Huh. Interesting."

"Anyway, we still have some time." Garrus ordered the levo-chiral Currywurst for himself and Tali.

**Palais Sanssouci (Turian Embassy), Berlin, 13:21**

Garrus stepped out of the Rapid Transport and looked over the park that surrounded the Turian Embassy on the outskirts of the Human mega-city Berlin. First, he noticed the many Turians that were standing around.

Now, the others stepped off behind him. Shepard, Liara and Femshep had come along with him, as had Tali. Shepard and Femshep had intended to meet the Turian military attaché, while Liara planned to request access to Turian intelligence databanks. Mel, Kelly and Samantha had gone back to the shipyard. For the diplomatic occasion, everyone had put on their Dress Uniforms.

This access that Liara planned to request was not really something she needed; after all the Shadow Broker Network was well established with the Turian Hierarchy, especially through Spectre Corps. But then again, working with the Turian Intelligence service on eye level was more in accordance with the ideals of the Galactic Federation.

Admiral Essling greeted them, walking out from the exit. He was also wearing Dress Uniform, obviously having just returned from a Diplomatic meeting. For several years, he had been "the man" of the Systems Alliance for the Turians. "Vell, Kommander Vakarian. Gut zat you are hier. Ze ambassador is vaiting for you, Ya?"

"I'm sure as hell not letting them wait.", Garrus answered the Admiral.

"Zen, let's go zru security.", Von Essling pointed towards the checkpoint.

As they entered the checkpoint, the sound of a Spectre authentication played in the room as Shepard and Femshep were recognized by the automated scanners and the guards let them proceed without any further hassle.

**Turian Embassy, Ambassadors Office, Berlin, 13:29**

"Come in, Centurion Vakarian.", the ambassador called Garrus in. As he entered, the ambassador added: "T'Soni, Shepard, Zorah and Schaefer, come in too. The Shadow Broker Network has bugs here anyway."

Liara smiled as she stepped over the doorstep: "You'd be surprised." It was obvious that Liara was no longer the introverted Prothean scientist that Shepard had once saved on Therum, but her phlegmatic speech in situations like these still starkly contrasted the kind-hearted person she was in her heart.

The ambassador sat down, resigned: "I've given up long ago."

"One is under the second segment of the table leg in the front-left. The other one is in the pommel of the sabre of General-Marshal Bluecher that is on display here. I forgot where we put the other six."

"Whatever. Anyway, I have called Centurion Vakarian here to discuss a security threat."

"A security threat?", Liara asked. "There's so many of them." Of course, playing it cool as usual. "The Renegade Ascenders, the Valkyries of Athame, Terra Firma, Rogue Corporations in the Terminus sector. What is it this time?"

"Something the Shadow Broker doesn't know what I mean, interesting.", the ambassador responded. "I'll just savour the moment of your ignorance. Probably the only one in a long time."

"I'll have to consult my sources.", Liara said. With her elbows on the ambassador's desk, she tapped her CommPad. "Ah, interesting", she read out her E-mail. "You're afraid of ExoGeni spying on the Military?"

"We have every belief to do so.", the Turian ambassador replied. "The latest generation ME-corridor-..."

Liara interrupted him: "…reactor-heat-sinks have not been unclassified, but ExoGeni claims independent invention nonetheless. I read the memo too, ambassador."

"Yes, exactly. They have also taken interest in a Top-Secret Federation project."

"Remind me, which one?"

"Project Rebirth.", the ambassador replied. "But let's hear what Lieutenant Commander Zorah has to say about this."

Suddenly, everyone looked at Tali. Embarassed, she returned: "Well, it's hardly a secret that the Quarians have tried to restore the Geth, isn't it?"

"No, it's not.", Liara replied. "After all, since EDI had been resurrected to quickly after the war, many projected that the Geth might one day follow too."

"Remember that drone I used in our mission on Virmire last year? The one that called me creator?"

"The one where we found the Inusannon lab?"

"Exactly. It was a Geth. Not a complete one, but a basic runtime nonetheless."

"But why are they interested now?"

"Because I made progress. Right now, the Gamma-phase is being compiled on Rannoch."

"Unregulated Geth in private hands could prove disastrous.", the ambassador added. "The further course of action is unclear, but be careful."

"We will.", Shepard answered.

Femshep was gazing at the wall behind the ambassador, where an oil painting of Friedrich the Great of Prussia hung.

The ambassador, following her gaze, turned around: "Ah yes, the 'Old Fritz' quite a man, quite a man. That reminds me, I have to talk to Admiral Von Essling, so if you will please excuse me."

"Well, you have a lot to do, haven't you?", Garrus asked him.

"Vakarian, how I wish I'd be in your shoes once again.", the ambassador answered. "Try not to get promoted."

"An old human saying already told me that."

"Anyway, if you have any more requests, direct them to my office. Or – ", the ambassador sighed, "just ask T'Soni instead."

"Haven't you forgotten something, ambassador?", Liara asked the man.

"The cooperation treaty? Sure. Just get the Primarch's permission."

"Well then we are done here. Goodbye.", Garrus concluded.

**GSV Normandy SR-3, Bridge, Berlin Spaceport, 15:91**

As the group returned from their city trip, the engineers were waiting for them on the bridge. On Samantha's console, a stack of teacups was towering while the small table in the middle was filled with energy drinks and chocolate bars.

"Tough day?", Garrus asked the engineers who were sitting in the chairs.

"Oh ja.", Dr. Vahlen answered.

"We've spent all day looking through the logs.", Samantha began. "And it finally looks like we're getting ahead. We know exactly how the coil malfunctioned, just not why."

"Actually, hang on…", Conrad Verner entered himself into to conversation. "Do you see this test cycle? Take the input voltage and calculate the expected field yourself."

Dr. Vahlen entered the values into the MathConsole on her DataPad. She looked at the values, blinked, looked again. Instantly exasperated, she cried out: "Oh, these Dummköpfe! Diese verdammten Dummköpfe."

"What is it?"

"The Turian maintenance team entered a wrong value for the Electromagnetic Vacuum Permittivity."

"Why didn't we catch it earlier?"

"The telemetry module uses the same value from the modulator. We always reversed the error out when we measured from the inside."

"Why is manually setting constants of nature even an option on the microcontrollers?", Samantha asked confused.

"Well, you've obviously never served with the Hierarchy.", Garrus responded. "You should really have bus-controlled calibrators.", he added.

"Now, we know what we can do the rest of the week.", Dr. Freeman sighed. "That won't be easy."

"Well, we've got enough tea and what you call 'Club-Mate', so we can do that.", Samantha commented.

Admiral Von Essling had kept in the background, but now he clapped his hands: "Zat is excellent."

"Umm, yes, you could say that.", Samantha answered. "If you'll excuse me, I need some rest. I haven't seen so many log entries in one day since Oxford."

"Zen, let's do Feierabend now, shall ve?", Von Essling suggested.

"Na dann.", Dr. Vahlen got up from her seat. "Well, see you tomorrow then."

"Sure. See you.", Samantha saw her off.

"So, what are you going to do tomorrow?", Shepard asked Liara.

"Oh, I wanted to visit nearest Shadow Broker Office.", she replied. "ExoGeni can't steal the Geth."

"Are we going to meet up later?", Shepard asked Femshep. "Maybe go to the pub again?"

"Well, not to the pub."

"Where then?"

"To the shooting range. I've heard a lot of good things about your tactical officer here, let's put those to the test."

"A shoot-off against me? Well, let's see how that ends.", Garrus returned. Of course, he would beat her: he had already out-shot Shepard as well as every single marine on the Normandy. Some kind of earth-turian woman wouldn't beat him. Or would she?


End file.
